Why Group Therapy in Nature Works for Children: Friendship, Belonging, and the Healing Outdoors

Individual therapy gives a child a safe relationship with one trusted adult. Group therapy gives a child something individual sessions cannot: a safe place to practice being with other children, in real time, with skilled support close at hand.

For children in the middle years of childhood, roughly Grades 4 to 6, friendship is the developmental headline. This is the age when peer relationships deepen, social comparison sharpens, and belonging begins to matter intensely. It is also the age when social struggles, feeling left out, misreading cues, big reactions that push friends away, can quietly erode a child's confidence. A well-designed therapeutic group meets children exactly at this developmental moment.

What a Therapeutic Group Offers

Clinical writing on group work with children describes groups as a place of exposure in real time to the process of beginning and maintaining friendships, and a safe place to experiment with the risky business of connection (Schen, Pressman, & Olds, 2022). That phrase, the risky business of connection, captures something every parent recognizes. Reaching out to another child involves real vulnerability. In a therapeutic group, that risk is taken inside a structure designed to make it safe: a small number of children, a consistent rhythm, clear expectations, and a clinician attending to every interaction.

In our children's groups at Hope Valley Psychotherapy, enrollment is intentionally limited and generously staffed, so that each child receives individual attention while still gaining everything the group format offers. Children practice taking turns, encouraging one another, repairing small ruptures, and experiencing themselves as a valued member of something, often for the first time in a setting where the stakes feel manageable.

Why We Take the Group Outdoors

At Hope Valley, group therapy does not happen in a circle of chairs under fluorescent lights. It happens on a farm, among trails, fields, and a small herd of gentle rescue horses. That choice is grounded in a substantial body of research on nature and mental health.

Jordan and Marshall (2010) argue that when psychotherapy moves outdoors, nature is not just a resource to be exploited for therapeutic ends but a living third in the psychotherapeutic dynamic, a dynamic, relational presence that becomes part of the work itself. They describe a living frame in which wind, rain, sunshine, and the myriad of plant and animal life all participate in the encounter. Children, who so often think and feel through their bodies and senses, respond to this living frame readily.

The broader ecotherapy literature supports the foundation. Buzzell and Chalquist (2009) describe ecotherapy as an umbrella term for nature-based methods of physical and psychological healing that acknowledge the vital role of nature in the human psyche. Reviewing the health evidence, Hansen, Jones, and Tocchini (2017) summarize research on Shinrin-Yoku, or forest bathing, documenting associations between mindful time in forest environments and benefits across the immune, cardiovascular, and psychological systems, including reduced depression, anxiety, and stress. And in a health-economics review, Hinde, Bojke, and Coventry (2021) note that nature-based interventions draw on known evolutionary, physiological, and social pathways to improved mental health, including physical activity, socialising, and mindfulness, with randomized controlled trials beginning to demonstrate benefits for depression and anxiety.

Notice what is embedded in that last list: socialising. Nature-based interventions and group interventions share an active ingredient. When children walk a trail together, groom a pony side by side, or create art under an open sky, the setting and the social experience reinforce one another.

The Equine Difference in a Group

Adding horses to a children's group adds a third kind of relationship to practice: the relationship with a large, gentle, honest animal. Chardonnens (2009) describes how, in the child-horse bond, each becomes a mirror of comprehension for the other, with the horse accepting the child without evaluative judgment while reflecting the natural consequences of the child's behaviour. In a group, this becomes a shared experience. Children watch each other learn the horses' language. They cheer when a hesitant friend halters a pony for the first time. The horse becomes a common project, and common projects are where childhood friendships are built.

Research on equine programs for young people supports the social outcomes. Pendry and Roeter (2013) found experimentally that an equine-facilitated learning program improved children's social competence, and reviews of equine-facilitated psychotherapy with children and adolescents report gains in self-esteem, emotional awareness, and interpersonal functioning (Lentini & Knox, 2015).

A Place to Belong

Underneath the research, the heart of it is simple. Every child needs places where they feel capable, calm, and wanted. A small therapeutic group, on a quiet farm, with patient horses and warm facilitators, is designed to be exactly that place, and the skills practiced there travel home, to school, and into friendships that last.

Our group programs run seasonally for children, youth, and adults. To ask about upcoming sessions, email jenny@hopevalleypsychotherapy.ca or visit hopevalleypsychotherapy.ca.

References

Buzzell, L., & Chalquist, C. (2009). Ecotherapy: Healing with nature in mind. Sierra Club Books.

Chardonnens, E. (2009). The use of animals as co-therapists on a farm: The child-horse bond in person-centered equine-assisted psychotherapy. Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies, 8(4), 319–332. https://doi.org/10.1080/14779757.2009.9688496

Hansen, M. M., Jones, R., & Tocchini, K. (2017). Shinrin-Yoku (forest bathing) and nature therapy: A state-of-the-art review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(8), 851. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14080851

Hinde, S., Bojke, L., & Coventry, P. (2021). The cost effectiveness of ecotherapy as a healthcare intervention, separating the wood from the trees. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(21), 11599. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182111599

Jordan, M., & Marshall, H. (2010). Taking counselling and psychotherapy outside: Destruction or enrichment of the therapeutic frame? European Journal of Psychotherapy and Counselling, 12(4), 345–359. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642537.2010.530105

Lentini, J. A., & Knox, M. S. (2015). Equine-facilitated psychotherapy with children and adolescents: An update and literature review. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 10(3), 278–305.

Pendry, P., & Roeter, S. (2013). Experimental trial demonstrates positive effects of equine facilitated learning on child social competence. Human-Animal Interaction Bulletin, 1(1), 1–19.

Schen, C. R., Pressman, A. R., & Olds, J. (2022). Lost and found in psychotherapy during COVID-19. Psychodynamic Psychiatry, 50(3), 476–491.